Monday, 11 June 2012

PHAR LAP MURAL, CAULFIELD

Phar Lap (1926–1932) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse whose achievements captured the public's imagination during the early years of the Great Depression. Foaled in New Zealand, he was trained and raced in Australia. Phar Lap dominated Australian racing during a distinguished career, winning a Melbourne Cup, two Cox Plates and 19 other weight for age races.

He then won the Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico in track-record time in his final race. After a sudden and mysterious illness, Phar Lap died in 1932. At the time, he was the third highest stakes-winner in the world. His mounted hide is displayed at the Melbourne Museum, his skeleton at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and his heart at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

This mural celebrating the famous racehorse is on a wall opposite (quite aptly!) the Caulfield Racecourse.

13 comments:

I do enjoy horse racing and am a horse lover, so I particularly enjoyed your very interesting post for the day, Nick! What an amazing horse he was! A beautiful race trace, I might add! Hope your week is off to a great start! Enjoy!

Horse racing is exhilarating. It's nice to see that murals are being used to highlight track history and heroic horses. If you're ever a.t Churchill Downs, you'd like the museum of horse racing and the history of special horses. Really famous horses are buried there. Phar Lap sounds like he's now a legend. Thanks for contributing to this week's Monday Mural